Not long ago, I was in Beverly Hills, CA at the Starbucks in the old Wilson's House of Suede building; it's directly across from Sony Music. There I met and up-and-coming hip hop music writer and he told me that so often the Rap Artists lost credibility with the industry due to their improper use of grammar when it wasn't necessary at all, it's just that they had never developed good grammar skills, and that's where he came in, as he was able to take their song, rewrite it without diminishing the words or the beat with strong use of the English language and perfect grammar. Okay so let's talk because that's not all he told me.
You see the gentleman was also a lawyer with a USC Law Degree and he represented some of these artists keeping them from blowing their once-in-a-life-time deal. He also explained this entire theory of his about grammar to me using my own area of knowledge as a writer, explaining how proper use of grammar could make or break the credibility of an author, to which I wholeheartedly concur.
Next, he explained that speech writers for CEOs, and heads of state often had expert grammar experts editing the words and phrases in every speech read from a teleprompter and how leaders that went off script were far more likely to put their foot in their mouths, or say the wrong thing, looking very stupid and silly, which he noted would then be replayed all over the TV in the next week.
As an online article author I can vouch for what this gentleman was explaining to me, people do judge your credibility, intellect, and even the advice you give based on how you write, and how you present whatever it is you have to say. If you're grammar is atrocious you will lose readership and credibility there's no two ways about it. Now then, you would think that a rap artist wouldn't have to worry about credibility, because they are speaking street lingo. My acquaintance suggested that even when you are speaking street lingo you need to do it correctly.
He then played two different songs for me, one with bad grammar, and one that he had rewritten. The second one that he'd worked on was crisp, clean, and intelligent. But the first one just sounded like trash, and you can understand why someone like Sony Music wouldn't want to have much to do with it. Some would say it's not fair for the world to be so critical and judgmental, and whereas in a perfect world that might be so, that's not the way things are in the present period. So, I hope you will please consider all this and think on it.